A touch of Death
by tt parker
Summary: Joseph Green goes for a relaxing drive, only to be kidnapped by Death. He then goes through a game of cat and mouse in order to save his life, leading to something...tragic


The rain hit the windshield without remorse late at night as Mr. Green drove into town when he noticed a strange car following him. He picked up speed and the peaceful drive turned into a car chase. Once he was sure he had lost the car he pulled into a parking lot and relaxed. After about twenty minutes, he restarts the car and begins to drive off.

"Leaving so soon?"

Was all he heard from the back seat before he felt something cold and damp draped over his mouth. When he awoke he was strapped to a chair of some sort.

"Ah good, you're awake." He heard from the shadows.

"Who are you!?" He questioned, but the only response he got was the sound of a thwack. He looked to his right and saw the barrel of a gun pointed at him.

"You do not and will not get to know my name!"

"Then what shall I call you?" He asked wearily.

"I am the shadows that consume. Where nothing can escape me. I am the reaper of souls. I am death!" Death stepped out of the shadows. They were cloaked in a black hooded robe. Their face was nowhere to be seen. Upon seeing this Mr. Green gasped in horror.

"So...shall we play a game? A game of life and death!"

"W-why am I here?" Mr. Green couldn't help but question.

"Because I need a new pawn for my game," They begin to laugh a sickly maniacal laugh that made goosebumps form on Mr. Green's entire body. The lights begin to flicker on and off, but eventually, the flickering and laughter stopped,

"I killed my last one~" The way that Death had said that was so sweet and evil that it was sickening to Mr. Green's stomach.

"Now then," They continued, "This is a game of cat and mouse. There will be a series of mazes in each room, and each room will be more deadly than the last. If you manage to complete all of the mazes you will live to see another day, but if you don't then..." They fired the gun at a cardboard cut out of him,

"You die!" Death handed the gun to him and released the restraints. Mr. Green fired the gun at them creating blood splatters all over the walls and floors, but Death did not die. Instead, they laughed at him condescendingly.

"I knew you would try that!" They said as the bullet holes vanished.

"W-what are you!?" He shouted at them

"Didn't you hear me the first time? I am Death." Death crossed their arms and looked at their wrist, which was scarred, and gave off an impatient foot tap. The tapping was slow and eerie.

"Are you just going stand there or are you going to run? Because I can easily kill you right here and now." This shot adrenaline through Mr. Green's body and he ran into the next room. Death's voice came in over an intercom.

"And don't even bother trying to hide because we, will find you!"

We? What do they mean 'we?'

He thought to himself as he ran. Just then he heard the sound of angry growls and howls.

Shoot that can only mean I'm being hunted by wolves

He thought to himself. He turned left and right, right and left until he came to a dead end. A lone wolf was closing in on him and he had to make a decision. Should he shoot it and give away his position or should he knock it out and deal with it later? He chose the latter of the two as the wolf jumped up into the air. He smacked it with the barrel of the gun. It gave a low whimper as it hit the ground. He ran past the wolf and repeated the process until he finally made it to the next room.

"Well done, my puppet~" Death says in a sickly sweet voice,

"In this room, you will deal with something much more deadly than wolves. You will be dealing with my little toys!"

The sound of the toreador march started to play. He knew it could only mean one thing.

"Freddy?"

He says keeping his voice low as to not alert the walking animatronic terrors. He snuck his way through the maze until, "SCREEEE!"

The sound of an animatronic was behind him trapping him between a wall and a deadly machine. He had no choice but to shoot the child possessed character this time. bang

The gun fired and he ran as fast as he could, but more and more of them kept getting in his way. He'd run out of bullets soon. The door closed behind him as he exited the maze and entered another. He heard a laugh followed by clapping,

"Well done puppet, well done. How does it feel to be a child killer?" Death asked him.

"It was self-defense and they were already dead!" Mr green spat in defense, which turned out to be a mistake. Death appeared in front of him. Their scythe gleamed in the light of the room.

"You shouldn't have done that, Mr. Green," Death says in a low deadly tone,

"Now instead of five mazes, there will be three and a decision to make!" Death vanished into a bunch of smoke causing Mr. Green to cough.

"Wait, what do you mean!?" He says to his captor, but they were already gone. He sighs, "Let's just get this over with."

He says in a defeated tone as he walked further into the room. What he saw was a bunch of land mines on the ground.

"Huh, this shall be easy!" He says as he attempted to jump over a land mine, but hit a tripwire on the low ceiling instead. He was hit with a flamethrower that set him on fire. He screamed in pain as he did the stop drop and roll dance across the floor.

"Well, that won't work." He says annoyed as he got off the floor and dust himself off. He had sustained severe burns all throughout his body. He then began to walk his way through the land mind maze, barely making it through. He peered into the next room and his heart dropped at what he saw. Death was standing there behind his daughter with their hand on her shoulders. She was bound and gagged to a chair.

"Now choose," Death says as they positioned their scythe to her neck,

"Kill her and live or kill yourself and she lives." Her eyes widened with fear. Tears began to well up in her eyes. She silently begged her father not to kill her but didn't want to see him die. Death laughs at his pathetic expression of pure rage.

"You're a monster!" He spat with pure hatred. The venom of his words hurting his daughter's ears.

"There is a third option...join me!"

"What!?" Mr. Green yelled back at death.

"Join me and you both shall live." They said plainly.

"You have ten seconds or I kill you both. Ten!" Those ten seconds seemed like an eternity as Death counted down. So many thoughts ran through Mr. Green's head, but he finally came to a decision.

"Death stop counting," He says as Death was about to say one

"I have made up my mind."

"Oh, and what is your decision~" They said with evil glee, for they knew what he had picked.

"I'll join you, just please let her go." He started to cry, but Death ignored him and undid his handy work.

"Daddy no!" His daughter cried, but before she could say another word she had vanished into a bunch of smoke.

"Good choice puppet~" Death says as they put a hand on his shoulder and for ed him to look at where his face should be, but there was nothing there. The tears stopped flowing, he was no longer able to cry.

"We shall begin training at midnight." Death then led him to where he would be staying for the rest of his life.

* * *

The chimes of the grandfather clock rung throughout the building. Twelve chimes, it was midnight which meant that Death's puppet would soon get acquainted with his new lifestyle.

"Wake up puppet~ it's time to train." Death, a figure cloaked in black. Their face covered by the shadows of their hood and was most likely not there at all, called to the sleeping Mr. Green. He awoke slowly, stretching and yawning before turning his attention to his new master.

"What do you want me to do?" He asked them with a cold tone. He didn't like them very much because of their little deal. If he did everything Death asked his daughter's life would be spared.

"Come with me, we need a target for our next game." He nodded slowly and got out of bed before following them. The cold night air brushed against his face as they exited the manhole. A full moon was out and the howls of wolves could be heard in the distance.Death led him to a house, a white double wide with a red roof and mahogany shutters. They walked up to the door and held out his hand to the knob. A low click was heard and the door swung open. Mr. Green stared in amazement as they entered the building. They gestured quietly with one finger for him to follow, which he did obediently. A couple was sleeping on the couch, a skinny Caucasian male and a curvy Caucasian female.

'We need the girl, pick her up. I'll worry about the boy if he wakes.'

Filled his mind. He looked at Death and found that they were looking back. He could tell that they were getting impatient somehow. He moved towards the couple and the male stirred, making him retreat a bit. He then reached for the female, picking her up and waking the male. The male sat up sharply and stared at him.

"How the hell did you get in here!? Put my girl down and get out before-" But he was beheaded by Death's scythe in the blink of an eye. The Female struggled to get free of his grasp, but he was stronger than her.

"Good, now we can begin the game. You're a… decent… partner puppet. Soon you will be the best."

"G-game!? What gam-" The female was cut off by Death putting her to sleep with a wave of his hand. They nodded at him and made him follow them back down the man whole.

"Now tie her up, make sure she can't escape." They said as they chucked him some rope. Once the female had been tied up and had woken up Death explained the rules of the game.

"The name of the game is "Onslaught." You will be given a Glock and some ammo. The waves will get harder as time progresses. Puppet, I'll see you in the observation room." And with that, Mr. Green was whisked off to a glass room above a wide stone maze. He could see the girl, equipped with the prior mentioned weapon. Wave after wave of wolves, animatronics and skeletons attacked her. She wasn't able to kill them all before she ran out of ammo. He excused himself and ran to her, stopping the game. And boy, was Death no happy.

"Do you have any idea what you just did…puppet?" They asked, their entire being coated in black flames. He stammered his apology to them but they just waved their hand, sending him into a wall and knock him out cold. When he awoke the girl's head was staring at him and Death was walking in, slowly and menacingly. They raised their scythe to his neck.

"Give me one reason why I shouldn't kill you right now." They dragged the blade of the scythe across his neck, nice and slow, giving him time to talk and think. Thick blood poured from the wound.

"I-I-I swear to you it won't happen again. I'll be completely obedient to you and you alone. Just.. please spare me and my daughter." They stopped and considered his words.

"You swear on everything you love?"

"Yes… I do." They snapped their fingers and the wound was immediately healed.

"Do not make the same mistake again." They growled and sent him back to his room. He sat in the corner, thinking about what he had just done to save himself and his daughter.

* * *

It had been several weeks since Mr. Green's incident with Death. The hooded figure had been a lot more stern with him since then. It was starting to drive him crazy. He hated being told what to do every second of every day by someone he did not even have that great of a bond with. He'd try to get on his good side tomorrow, right now he needed sleep. He took off his new black, hooded, cloak; that Death had given him recently and put it on a hanger to be hung up in the closet. He then put on a black shirt and black pajama pants before climbing into bed, getting ready for sleep. However, he could not sleep a wink. He tossed and turned this way and that, but still could not find a way to put him to sleep. He sighed and got up, heading to the bathroom to see if Death had any sleeping pills. But as he got closer and closer to their room he could hear the sound of them snoring.

Is this a test or are they actually asleep? If they are... this could be my chance to end it all.

He smiled evilly at the thought of finally getting rid of his captor. There was a catch however, what would he do if Death was not asleep? How would he kill them? How would he escape the labyrinth and the underground world that this monster had created? That did not matter to him at the moment. He was too focused on the thought of being free and being able to see his daughter again to care about any of that. He slowly turned the knob to Death's room, trying not to make a sound as the door swung open gently. The room was pitch black, making it hard to see anything. Slowly but surely his vision adjusted to the lack of lighting and started to make out shapes in the room. One looked like a dresser, the other a bed with a figure in it and finally one that looked like Death's scythe. Mr. Green tipped toed his way towards the weapon in hopes of being able to take them out with their own device of mass destruction.

Almost there... GOT IT!!

He picked up the scythe and tried his best to hold it over his shoulder without dropping it. Apparently, Death was stronger then they looked, a lot stronger. He crept his way toward the bed and held the scythe up in the air, preparing to lob off their head. The weapon came down with a whistle, waking the sleeping person. Just inches from their face, the scythe was stopped and the lights came on. Death was hoodles. They looked like a Caucasian male and a female were sewn together into a Caucasian amalgamation that would forever haunt the nightmares of sleeping children.

"D-D-Death! Haha, you see this all just a big misunder-"

But Mr. Green was cut off by a punch across the face.

"Don't you ever, and I mean ever, try that again Joseph." Death growled, full of barely quelled rage. Joseph Green held his face in absolute pain, teeth had been knocked out of his mouth and onto the floor. He spat out some blood and glared them in the eyes, not backing down from this monster that could easily kill him within an instant.

"Death, I-I think it's about time we end this relationship between us..."

Death howled with laughter that became more and more deranged as it went on, the lights flickered and the entire underground world shook as if an earthquake was happening. Rocks fell and Joseph had to dodge them, getting nicked once in the forehead. Blood spilled out of the wound and Death stopped laughing to lick their lips.

"Ah, that pain and fear you felt was delicious, Joseph. What makes you think that you can call the shots as if you were the one in control?"

Suddenly strings shot out of the ceiling and walls, wrapping themselves around his limbs, neck and torso. He struggled to break free of them but it was no use, he was bound to his spot.

"I am the one in control here, puppet. You get no say in the matter on anything. I will decide your fate. I will decide when you die. You still have a use, that is the only reason that you are alive right now. Now then, what should your punishment be?" They walked around the room, weaving in and out of the strings that had their apprentice bound, then stopped. They then snapped their fingers as if they had an idea.

"You and I will have a duel, to the death!!"

The strings that held Joseph in place released and he fell face-first onto the floor in front of them.

Ouch! Wait, did they say... A DUEL!?!?!

Before he had a chance to get up Death started phase-shifting them through the floor. They were somewhere Joseph had never seen before. He got to his feet quickly and backed away from them.

"Pick your weapon, Joseph."

On the wall were a shotgun, scythe and short sword. He made his way over to them, looked at each as if calculating the damage each would do then picked the short sword. He then stood adjacent to Death, gripping onto his sword tightly.

"Whenever you're ready, Joseph"

"Oh would you please, SHUT UP!?"

He charged at them, sword streaking through the air at his side as he ran. It made a whistling sound as it was barely a blur as he slashed at them. However, Death was quick. Their scythe was there to meet the blade. The two blades clashed over and over as Joseph slashed at their head, chest and legs. They were always there to meet his sword with their scythe, it was starting to frustrate him. A low disgruntled growl came from him that grew in volume.

"What's the matter, Joseph? Can't hit me?" Death cackled with malicious glee. They shot past him with glowing red eyes, it happened so quick that Mr. Green just suddenly had a cut on his right cheek and Death was behind him. He reached up and touched his face, feeling the warm blood on his fingertips. His eyes widened with fear which Death was just taking in with a grin that got bigger by the second.

"You can't beat me, puppet~ You might as well just give up and beg for mercy!" Their voice was so sinister that it gave him goosebumps on every inch of his skin. He knelt down in front of them, feeling defeated. Death walked over to him in stride, lifted up his chin to meet their eyes.

"Now then, go on puppet, beg me for mercy or I will kill you." This was his chance. He picked up his sword and suddenly lurched into them, running the weapon through their stomach. He smiled to himself as they spit out blood.

"Never, ever, let your guard down." He said to them before ripping it out. Blood sprayed all over him and their body fell to the floor. He tightened his grip on the short sword and started making his way to his daughter.

* * *

"Anna! Anna sweetheart, are you there!?" Joseph had finally returned to his home, pounding on the door to his house like a madman. However, to his surprise, A black-cloaked figure answered the door. They took their hood off, revealing that it was... Danny Green? But they didn't look the same, their eyes looked soulless and a lot like Death's. Joseph took a step back, worried about his nephew.

"D-Danny? Is that y-" But he was cut off by a sinister laugh coming from the boy, oh how that laugh reminded him of his captor. It was unnatural in every way.

"Why, hello there, puppet~ happy to see me again?" He stumbled backward, in shock and fear. His entire being shook with terror.

"B-But...HOW!? I KILLED Y-" But once again, he was cut off. Danny's possessed form put a hand over his mouth and held his fingers to his lips.

"Shhhh, Joseph. you don't want to wake Anna now, do you? Hehe, let us go somewhere where no one can interfere. Shall we?" Danny snapped his fingers and Joseph's vision wavered. When everything was clear again, they were in a dark, damp place. Just barely any light lit up the place. Danny slowly let his hand drop to his side, allowing Joseph to speak.

"Where are we? WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME AND MY FAMILY!?" Joseph roared with unbelievable rage and confusion.

"We are back where this all started, the capture room, this is where I held you until I thought you would wake up. As for what I want... I want you and only you. If you wouldn't have killed my old body, Danny here wouldn't have had to suffer."

"Why me? What makes me so special?"

"Isn't that obvious, puppet? You are the last bloodline true of Deaths. Yes, I know that dear Anna is adopted~"

"And the games, those innocent people that you killed?"

"That was all to appease a God... MY GOD! LORD PHAK IS ALL THERE IS IN THIS WORLD!!"

You have lost your cotton-picking mind. "So why aren't I dead? Don't you want revenge?"

"Didn't you hear me?" Danny was forced to giggle evilly, "You are the last young Death there is. Danny here, he's not a Trueblood." Death suddenly made Danny draw a pocket knife from his pocket. He slid the blade along his arm, drawing blood. Joseph shook with rage and worry for his nephew.

"Now, what color is your blood?"

"Wh-what do you mean? My blood has always been the same color."

"LIER! I'll ask again, fail to answer truthfully and I'll draw more blood from this body. I wonder how much pain little Danny can take~"

"...black... my blood is black." Joseph hung his head low, he was giving in to the madness.

"Good puppet~ For that I will tell you my true name." Joseph tilted his head in interest.

"My name, it was originally Nic. That was my name before the lord of Death showed me what I was meant to do. What YOU are meant to do. Serve him!"

"I understand."

"Good~ now follow me~" Joseph followed the possessed boy to a hidden room, that was in the wall. Inside the room was a massive boney beast.

He gasped in wonder and felt the compelling urge to kneel to this beast. So he did, along with Death.

"My lord, I have brought the boy. He is ready."

**"W̸e̵l̸l̶ ̴d̶o̴n̴e̸ ̴n̷i̶c̷,̸ ̷y̵o̵u̷ ̵h̴a̴v̷e̴ ̶s̶e̶r̶v̸e̷d̴ ̶m̵e̶ ̵w̶e̶l̸l̷,̵ ̶n̷o̵w̷ ̸l̶e̷a̷v̸e̴ ̷u̶s̸."**

Death nodded and walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.

**"̵B̸o̴y̷,̶ ̸y̴o̴u̶ ̶a̴r̷e̸ ̶t̶h̷e̴ ̷o̶n̶e̴ ̸t̴h̴a̷t̷ ̵w̶i̵l̶l̸ ̸f̸r̴e̷e̴ ̶m̵e̸.̸ ̷L̵e̸t̵ ̵m̴e̸ ̷i̷n̸t̷o̷ ̵y̸o̴u̵r̷ ̸s̵o̷u̵l̴,̸ ̸a̸n̶d̵ ̶t̴o̷g̸e̷t̷h̸e̴r̸ ̵w̵e̶ ̶w̵i̴l̸l̸ ̴p̵u̴r̸g̸e̸ ̷t̷h̸i̶s̵ ̷l̴a̴n̷d̴!̵"** he felt compelled to nod but did so hesitantly. Phak smiled slightly and crumpled to the ground as a light shot into Joseph. He was suddenly filled with a burning sensation, that was at the same time colder than ice. Then... it stopped. Joseph smiled and exited the room.


End file.
